July 14, 2008

Said John Lennon — in a newly discovered interview from 1969. He was asked about saying that the Beatles had gotten bigger than Jesus Christ:

“It’s just an expression, meaning the Beatles seem to me to have more influence over youth than Christ,” he said.

“Now I wasn’t saying that was a good idea, ’cos I’m one of Christ’s biggest fans. And if I can turn the focus on the Beatles on to Christ’s message, then that’s what we are here to do.”...

“If the Beatles get on the side of Christ, which they always were, and let people know that, then maybe the churches won’t be full, but there’ll be a lot of Christians dancing in the dance halls,” he said....

“Whatever they celebrate, God and Christ, I don’t think it matters as long as they’re aware of him and his message.”

Lennon... said his dislike of institutional religion had been shaped as a 14-year-old when a “ludicrous” vicar banned him from church after he and his friends were “having the giggles”.

He added: “I wasn’t convinced of the vicar’s sincerity anyway.”

So "Imagine no religion" really means: Imagine life without that humorless vicar.

Add Lennon to my list of people too good for the church they experienced during their era.

He reminds me a lot of Bono here.

I'm heartened that movements in the present church (especially the emerging and missional movements) are very much something I think Lennon would resonate with. The church, then, just didn't have room for someone like Lennon, or for most artists/musicians who were really seeking a spirituality and a participation in the holistic mission of God to this world.

Though, I can't help think that Lennon said something flippant in the spur of the moment and then later tried to give meaning to it.

Lots of Christians (maybe starting with Jesus) would join saying, "Imagine a world without rule-bound Pharisaism, but full of the Good News of God's transforming love." If that is what John Lennon meant, then his message wasn't inconsistent with Christian belief.

I never saw any outward evidence of Lennon's Christianity. Further the text of Imagine disavows Heaven (and thus any Christian God) as well as the carrying of a personal cross in the Christian sense because there'd be "nothing to kill or die for".

Bono by contrast is overtly and unambiguously Christian.

I would chalk up his comment to Lennon trying to being polite and the common notion that Christ, if not the Son of Man, was a great teacher. Hence you can be a "fan" without being a Christian. Or course maybe he lost his faith somewhere between this quote and Imagine. Hard to know really.

Though, Bono's own faith crisis was able to land back in faith partially, I think, because of the changing church of this era. There was a place for his spirituality, and an acceptance of the fact his avowed Christianity doesn't exactly have a neat little box to fit in.

Lennon was around when there were much more rigid lines of in and out, and when there wasn't a strong realization of Christian mysticism or practical helps.

Well they did sing "All You Need is Love" which is arguably a more Christian message than "Imagine" is anti-Christian. But I always took Imagine to be more about religion than Christianity anyway.

To the extent he saw there being a difference, he was just expressing something fundamental to my (and many others') belief in a personal relationship with Christ, having nothing to do with some dude with a collar.